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"C" is Cunningham, Ann Pamela (1816-1875)

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"C" is Cunningham, Ann Pamela (1816-1875). Preservationist. A native of Laurens District, a riding accident left Cunningham an invalid for life. Her mother told her about the dilapidated state of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. From her sickbed, Cunningham immediately penned an appeal to the “Ladies of the South!” to raise the funds to purchase and renovate the estate. In 1856 the Virginia legislature chartered the “Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union.” Cunningham successfully negotiated the purchase of the property in 1860. In declining health, she was unable to attend a board meeting in 1874. Ann Pamela Cunningham sent a farewell address that declared: “Ladies, the home of Washington is in your charge…. Let one spot in this grand country of ours be saved from ‘change’! Upon you rests this duty.”

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.